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Blogs from Skagway, Alaska, United States, North America
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Back in time in Skagway!
Published: September 21st 2012North America » United States » Alaska » Skagway
September 20th 2012
Writing this while in the Glacier Smoothie and Espresso Cafe in Skagway. Kids have each got a 20oz smoothie and reading comics while mum and dad have a cup of coffee. Caitlin has gone for a thing called the Zinger which has strawberries, raspberries and lemonade and is very tasty. Reuben opted for a thing called the Cabin Fever which contains peanut butter, chocolate and banana. Sounds interesting, tastes disgusting, but obviously not to a 10 year olds less than selective pallet. Now retrospectively, awoke at 7am and quietly lifted the curtain whilst sleeping beauty slumbered on. Found myself eye to eye with a concrete piling and our porthole (is it a porthole when its square and doesn't open) at the top staring out over the wharf. We had docked at Skagway. Needed to wait for ... read more
Cruise Second Stop - Skagway
Published: September 14th 2012North America » United States » Alaska » Skagway
September 10th 2012
Skagway Stepping into Skagway was like stepping back into time, 1899 perhaps… another Gold rush town, they managed to preserve that olden day feel by keeping saloons and dance halls. It’s also in a very pretty setting, surrounded by green hills and snow-capped mountains Some of the shore excursions available – White Pass Scenic Railway , it’s a train ride on a vintage rail car that takes one through the famous White Yukon Rail route to the Summit. Another option was to go on a Glacier Point Wilderness Safari, this takes you to the face of the Davidson Glacier in a 31 Foot voyager canoe, whales and sea lions often pop up on these safaris. After our visit to the town we were back on board to start our own table tennis tournament, well I was ... read more
Skagway - Cruise on Rhapsody of the Seas
Published: September 12th 2012North America » United States » Alaska » Skagway
September 3rd 2012
Day 4- Monday - Sept 3, 2012 Skagway We docked in Skagway today on day 4. We took the White Pass & Yukon Railroad train ride to the Canadian border. It was a fun trip riding the old train up to the Canadian border and back again. After we got dropped off in Skagway, near the ship, we headed to the town. It's a quaint little historic town. We had lunch at the Bonanza Restaurant and I had a fantastic chocolate martini. It was so good I had to ask the bartender for the recipe. Also found a cute little quilt shop where I bought a pattern for a puffin quilt to make, in the future. The ship docked not too far from town. It's an easy walk or you can board a shuttle bus for ... read more
August 17th 2012
Located at the northern tip of Alaska’s Inside Passage, Skagway lies nestled at the base of the snow-capped mountains of the Coast Range. Typically, most ships arrive here in the very early hours. We woke to bright sunshine and after a quick breakfast were on the pier to start the first part of our excursion. We boarded a bus that would take us to Caribou Crossing with many photo stops on the way. We learned about the very storied history of the Klondike Gold Rush which began in August of 1896 when a small group of miners working along the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike Rivers in Northwest Canada struck gold. The following summer on July 14, 1897 the first ship carrying the lucky miners docked in San Francisco and 3 days later on July ... read more
August 9th 2012
The town of Skagway is a quaint town with friendly locals and an interesting history. I'm discovering that prostitution was very popular in Alaska since every port has a historical brothel tour. Guess those gold miners needed something to do. Here are some quick Skagway Facts: There are 923 people living in Skagway during the summer peak the town dwindles down to 200 people who live in town year-round. Business are open 5 months out of the year so locals who live her year around have to earn enough to last until tourist season begins in June. The nearest hospital is in Juneau. Most citizens of the town are born in Canada so they have dual citizenship. However, most women will choose to fly down to Portland or Seattle to have their children. There is one ... read more
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August 4th 2012
We arrived in to Skagway early Monday morning. We docked at 7 am sharp. We had to be out, with breakfast, and at the end of the dock by 8:15 for our morning excursion, a bike ride through the rain forest past Dyea. Because of it's proximity to water, Dyea was a booming gold rush town in the late 1800s. Dyea was across the mountain and at the edge of water so the gold miners could float their 2 tons of gear and food down the river rather than try and cross the treacherous mountains. Once the railroads were built, Dyea just died. It's really interesting because the miners just picked up and left the town. Since it's in the rainforest, it's just been reclaimed by the forest around it. Dyea is now in the Tongass ... read more
July 18th 2012
18th July ’12 Haines and Skagway We had decadent breakfast in bed this morning! It also served as our wake up call for our first port and the chance to get off the ship. We were moored at Haines but this also served for the town of Skagway where most of the excursions went from. Thanks to research by Howard before joining the ship we were able to do our own version of the ship’s Whitepass Summit Scenic Railway with shopping time in Skagway trip and so save ourselves $100. We were even on the same ferry and train as the people from our ship, although they had priority boarding the ferry and the first 4 train carriages. We had checked with the ship’s Travel Guide where to catch the fast ferry from so we got ... read more
July 11th 2012
I forgot about the wind. When Walter warned me about bears in the Carcross Desert and suggested the little patch of sand between the water and the warehouse, I forgot about how windy it was that afternoon. And I had even read an information plaque somewhere about how the Tagish First Nation name for the spot translates to “always windy spot” or something like that. I was woken several times by the wind smacking the side of my tent into my face as I slept. This, of course, was the result of my having anchored the tent at each corner with tent pegs anchored in sand. Hmmm. At the first flutter of wind, they came up and were free to move about and cause slack, letting the tent walls sag enough to smack me in the ... read more
Skagway-The Gold Rush Gateway
Published: June 27th 2012North America » United States » Alaska » Skagway
June 24th 2012
We arrived in Skagway about 7:00 in the morning. It was another of those early wakeups for me. I gave up trying to get back to sleep at 4:30 and headed up to deck 14 to see the scenery. The further north we've gotten the longer the daylight has been. It didn't get dark until about 11:30 and at 3:00 AM it was rather light. By 4:30, it was definitely daylight. The ship traveled ever more slowly as we got closer to Skagway because the waterway got very narrow. Skagway was high on my personal list of places to visit because I've always been interested in the gold rush days and the adventures of the propectors in this rugged part of the world. Reading Jack London's books as a young guy stoked that interest. In a ... read more
May 23rd 2012
An early morning arrival in Skagway finds Cecil still a little groggy from all of the previous day's activities, so Deb heads out into Skagway on her own until he can catch up. At the port the Skagway cliffs are covered in ship and captain's names dating back to the early 1900's. It became a tradition, and many of the cruise ships who port here have their ship and captain's names painted on the rocks. The story says that the more highly a ship's crew thought of their captain, the higher they painted the names. I have no idea how some of those got up there - it looks pretty precarious! Skagway is a cool little historic town that has a very rustic and authentic feel to it. Less than 1,000 people now populate the town, ... read more
